Medium-induced gluon radiation off massive quarks fills the dead cone

Abstract

We calculate the transverse momentum dependence of the medium-induced gluon energy distribution radiated off massive quarks in spatially extended QCD matter. In the absence of a medium, the distribution shows a characteristic mass-dependent depletion of the gluon radiation for angles $\ensuremath{\theta}lm/E,$ the so-called dead cone effect. Medium modifications of this spectrum are calculated as a function of quark mass m, initial quark energy E, in-medium path length and density. Generically, medium-induced gluon radiation is found to fill the dead cone, but it is reduced at large gluon energies compared to the radiation off light quarks. We quantify the resulting mass dependence for momentum-averaged quantities (gluon energy distribution and average parton energy loss), compare it to simple approximation schemes and discuss its observable consequences for nucleus-nucleus collisions at the BNL RHIC and CERN LHC. In particular, our analysis does not favor the complete disappearance of energy loss effects from leading open charm spectra at the RHIC.